The Kronos Thing
by coketart
Summary: AU. It's been seven months since the Kronos Thing and life seems to be going back to normal. But, with the tenth grade internships coming up and the police getting involved again, will the band of friends agree on what really happened? AU, AH, not slash.
1. Chapter 1

A crumpled up piece of paper landed in the trash. A sigh. More scribbling. A groan. Another piece of paper came sailing through the room, right into the trash, which was close to overflowing with paper. Percy Jackson threw down his pencil in frustration and ran his fingers through his hair. How the hell was he supposed to come up with a halfway acceptable résumé when he couldn't even spell the name of his school correctly?

His eyes wondered to his watch for the umpteenth time, but it seemed to be ticking slower than ever. At three, he was meeting with friends, and it was two fifteen… two sixteen, to be exact. Due the next day, Monday, were the applications for the tenth grade two-week internships that everyone had to do. Included in that was the place you wanted to work at (actually you needed a choice of five), a résumé, and a short paragraph explaining why you wanted to do your internship there.

Percy was sure he could get the internship at Poseidon Marine Industries any time he wanted- the director was, after all, his biological father.

So why did his stupid school have to make him do this?

.

Nico took a sip of his McDonalds coke (the Happy Meal was safely stored in his backpack) as he walked down the beach of Montauk. He was supposed to be in the city at the time, filling out some application for some internship he didn't care about. Lucky for him, he wasn't. Actually, he had dropped out of school the moment he turned sixteen, but his friends didn't know that. They though he was away on a family vacation with his father and step mother.

As if Hades and Persephone would ever take him on a vacation, he snorted. Being the illegitimate son of Hades, the top manager of every night club in New York City, had its perks. His dad gave him enough money to shut up but otherwise didn't really care what his son did. It was their deal: Hades had bought him an apartment (and a small cottage in Montauk) and a motorcycle and sent a check every month, if Nico said nothing about being his son.

Nico had been more than happy to oblige. Hades was a dark and powerful man, feared by most and avoided by all, but who had never had a scandal involving him. A scandal would ruin the man completely.

Nico's phone was buzzing: text message. Wait, no, two text messages.

_From: Percy_

_Message: Yo Nico you still meeting us 3? Ik you're still pissed cuz of B leaving but hav a little fun k?_

Nico rolled his eyes and looked at the next message.

_From: Ethan_

_Message: Idiot where are you? _

Frowning, Nico started typing a reply.

_To: Ethan _

_Message: Almost there, Ethan. Is RED there already?_

A few seconds after he sent the text, his phone vibrated again.

_From: Ethan_

_Message: were all here waiting. Pls hurry up nico, its sooo awk w/only red here!_

A small chuckle left Nico's lips as he practically heard Ethan's desperateness through the text.

Nico and Ethan had never really hung out when Nico was still in school. Ethan had always been a loner, until he started hanging out with Luke and the Kronos Gang. Long story. In the end, the gang had escalated and Ethan had left just before it self-destructed. He had been even more of an outcast then, and Nico had felt sorry for him.

The two of them had started hanging out more and found they had a lot in common. Who also started hanging out with them was Rachel Elizabeth Dare. She had been a separate friend of Percy's in the beginning, but had felt more and more like a third wheel when Percy and Annabeth had started dating, and the jealousy between her and Annabeth had been unbearable.

So she started hanging out with Nico for two reasons: one, because she actually liked him as a person and friend, and two, it pissed off her super rich daddy.

"Yo Nico!" a shout interrupted Nico's thoughts and he looked up to see the figure of his half Asian friend standing on the porch of the tiny cottage, waving. Nico grinned.

.

If there was something that Thalia absolutely did not tolerate, it was the police accusing her of spray-painting a hippo. As crazy as that sounded, it had been done, at the Central Park Zoo. Unfortunately for her, there was a can of purple spray paint in her backpack when the police came (she had been spraying in an alley behind a store, not in the zoo), but the police refused to believe her.

And now they were making her see a shrink because they thought that the behavior of the uber-famous actress was going crazy after the suicide of her boyfriend, Luke, late last summer. She still shuddered, remembering the past five years when the Kronos Gang had gone too far.

"Miss Grace, did you even hear anything of what I just said?" the officer exclaimed in exasperation. Thalia shrugged and shook her head.

"Sorry, I was too busy thinking about how mentally unstable I am due to my boyfriend's suicide about seven months ago."

"Sarcasm is not appreciated, Miss Grace."

"Yeah, and neither are you! Look, I didn't spray paint a hippo, though I'd gladly name some people who would. I don't need to see a shrink because of Luke- I already did that after it happened and I'm completely fine. The only thing you can hold against me is having a can of purple spray paint in my backpack. Now, if you don't mind, I have to fill out an internship app, otherwise I won't be able to pass tenth grade, okay?"

.

Yes, everything seemed to be fine. The lives of Percy Jackson and all those involved in the _Kronos Thing_ were going back to normal, it seemed. But what exactly happened those years?

**So my attempt at AU. Review, yes? Oh yeah, disclaimer for this chapter and the rest to come: **

**I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians/ Heroes of Olympus.**

**There I said it.**

**Review?**

**Pretty please… :)**


	2. Chapter 2

"Any more applications?" Mr. Blofis, Percy and Annabeth's English teacher and coincidentally Percy's step dad, asked. Around of head-shakes and 'no's went around the room. Percy couldn't help but notice how Paul- sorry- Mr. Blofis' eyes hitched slightly at the empty seat next to Percy. The seat Nico was supposed to be sitting in, but hadn't been for the past eleven weeks. At first Percy had believed it was only a family vacation, but now he was getting seriously worried.

Nico wasn't returning any texts, calls, emails and whatnot. Percy had understood it in the beginning; after all, ever since the Di Angelo siblings had moved to New York, their lives had been turned upside down: on one of the many attempts to stop the Kronos Gang, Bianca had been killed, then Nico had made some pretty shocking discoveries about his family, and eventually, on his sixteenth birthday, had told Percy he was going away on a vacation with them.

"Alright then. I'll let you guys go a little earlier and I'll run these down to the office, okay?" A chorus of woops and 'oh yeah's sounded through the room as people stood up and gathered their stuff together.

"Yo, Perce, we're going to Subways, you guys wanna come?" Travis Stoll pointed to himself and a group of others consisting of Connor Stoll, Katie Gardner, Grover Underwood, and a few other more insignificant people. Okay, they were Clarisse, Chris, Drew, Mitchell, Will, Jake, and someone else that Percy couldn't see. Before he could answer though, Paul called to him.

"Percy, if I could have a minute?"

"Sorry guys, gotta go. Annabeth, you can go with them if you want," he smiled at his girlfriend, who just shook her head.

"No, I'll wait for you. You guys can go, we'll catch up."

A cat call came from the new guy, and a few others laughed, clapping him on the back. Annabeth turned to him, an eyebrow raised, scrutinizing him.

His name was Noah Chevaux, yet he was known to everyone as Blackjack. He was new that year. That particular day, he was wearing a black and red striped beanie, a red t shirt that read 'Sex Drugs Rock 'n Roll', black denim shorts that were ripped at places, and black lo-tops. His black hair was peeking out from under the beanie, but it didn't conceal the gage in his left ear.

He was giving Annabeth his normal grin, which seemed to really annoy her, for some reason.

"Lay off, Blacky," Percy muttered, and Blackjack's stare turned to ice.

"Don't call me that," he hissed, and the Stoll brothers burst out in a round of stifled guffaws.

"Hey, hey, hey, cool it, guys. Percy, Annabeth, I'd like to talk to both of you. The rest of you may go… except Blackjack. I could use you here."

The crowd left except Blackjack, who looked disappointed.

"Now you three are probably wondering why you're here. I'm a little concerned about your friend, Nico di Angelo. Ever since he dropped out-"

"Wait a sec, Paul, Nico hasn't dropped out!" Percy felt the need to defend his friend, who was almost like a brother to him. "He's on a family vacation!"

Paul looked sadly up at the three teenagers. To him, it was clear that Percy really believed Nico was on a vacation, Annabeth had figured it out, but he couldn't read Blackjack. The boy looked so indifferent. Maybe it was because he had been held captive for so long by the Kronos Gang, and the person who had rescued him and many others, Charles Beckendorf, had died in the attempt. No one knew this, of course, and Paul respected Blackjack for wanting to keep it that way.

"Blackjack, do you know anything about this?" Paul asked the boy, who turned his head away.

"Yeah, he told me."

"What is going on?" Percy questioned, but was quite coldheartedly ignored by the other three people.

"What else did he tell you?" Annabeth asked, her light eyes searching Blackjack's dark ones.

"Annabeth, if I went around giving that info to people, Nico wouldn't trust me. All I'm saying is I know Nico dropped out and we're friends, so we hang out sometimes."

"Does Nico also hang out with other people?" Paul asked, and Blackjack narrowed his eyes. Paul raised his hands defensively. "I'm not going to pressure you into telling me anything, Blackjack, but I'm asking as Paul, Percy's step dad, not as Mr. Blofis, your English teacher."

Black jack was silent for a moment before he started speaking again.

"The usual crowd. Ethan, Rachel, and me. But seriously, I promised Porkpie and Rainbow I'd meet them at Subways with the rest of the gang, so if you don't mind, I'll be going now."

Paul nodded dismissively, and Blackjack took off, leaving behind a pondering English teacher (what was up with Blackjack and his friends' names?), a slightly guilty looking Annabeth (why oh why hadn't she told Percy earlier?) and a very confused Percy (what in the name of all seaweed in the ocean was going on?).

.

Thalia hadn't gone to school that day. Even though she would never admit it, she was still pretty shaken up from the police yesterday, and, instead of turning right down the road to go to school, she had turned left that morning, towards the park. She wasn't worried about her internship papers- Artemis Archery had already taken her in, and there wasn't really much more to do at school that day.

So that was how she ended up in Central Park, sitting on a rock, thinking about how, just a few years ago, it had all been different.

"_Hey, Thals," Luke's warm voice greeted the back of her neck. She spun around to face the blonde, laughing. He caught her in his arms and pulled her in for a kiss, but she pulled away last second, noticing the change on his face._

"_Luke…" she trailed off, her hand tracing a line from his left eye down to his chin. Luke looked down, almost ashamed, it seemed, and gently took her hand from his face._

"_It's nothing, Thals, just a run-in with a motorcycle. Really, I came to spend time with you now, not to worry about what my face looks like," he smiled at her, and even though she wanted to, she just couldn't resist that goddamn cute little smile of his. She shook her head but grinned back, pressing her lips to his._

"…Thalia… earth to Thalia… there's a horde of purple penguins after you…" Thalia was brought back to reality by the voice of a certain boy she hadn't seen in a good ten weeks.

"Nico!" she exclaimed, flinging her arms around him. He had grown in the time he was gone, at least two inches. His black hair had gotten longer, and he was still sporting the black jeans and boots, though he had lost the bomber jacket. Instead, a plain black jacket with lots of pockets kept him warm, and Thalia had to admit, he looked pretty dang good.

"Hey, Thals," he grinned at her, one of his rare grins that he usually kept to himself.

"How was LA?" she asked. Yes, she knew he had dropped out, but she also knew he had gone to LA to spend time with his dad, who, as far as she knew, lived and worked from under a recording studio. "How long have you been back?"

"LA was fine, I got to spend some time with my dad and his wife, though it was really, really awkward. Then I decided I missed you guys and came back here about a week ago. I've been living in the cabin at Montauk."

"And you didn't come visit me," Thalia mock-huffed, playfully glaring at Nico.

"I'm sorry, oh fair maiden of mine. Next time, I'll make sure you'll be the first I visit and I'll make sure to have a dozen red roses at your doorstep, 'kay?"

"Better," Thalia went along with it. "Do you want to see anyone? Or do you just wanna hang out with good ole' me?"

"If you don't mind, I think I'll choose option two. I am so not ready to talk to Percy yet."

"As you wish. You want to grab something at McDonalds?"

"I would absolutely love to."

.

Jason frowned as his supervisor, Lupa, gave him a stern look.

"Don't worry, Lupa, Reyna and I will be fine! It's just a field trip to the city for the weekend, we'll be back before you know it."

Lupa still seemed to disapprove, but let it slide. Jason rolled his eyes, grabbed his backpack, and he and Reyna left the building.

"So, McDonalds? I'm starved," Jason asked his companion as they entered the city. Reyna laughed.

"You're always hungry, Jason. But sure, McDonalds it is."

The walked further down the street next to Central Park until the stopped at a large McDonalds with two stories. After getting their usual orders, they took their trays upstairs, in hopes of getting a seat by the window. However, all were taken, except for a table for four, where a guy and a girl were already sitting.

"Hey, do you guys mind if we-" Jason started, but was cut off.

"Jason?" the girl with black hair and electric blue eyes asked incredulously.

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